appearing more in the public's eye. Reformers started to rise and promote “social equality” in society for freedom of love, freedom from sexual discrimination, and freedom of choice. Following the May Fourth Movement, the term xin nüxing (new woman) was popularized. The direct translation of nüxing is "female sex". However, before the May Fourth Movement, women in China were described by the term funü which emphasized familial and gender roles rather than biological sex. The new woman's role in modern China was often debated by intellectuals, liberals, and The Nationalists and the Communist. Nonetheless, the "new woman" icon found its way into popular media in the forms of film, photographs, magazines, fashion advertisements and calendar posters. Cai Chusheng's film is considered to be the most well-known of the "new woman" genre films. The pioneers of the Chinese Women's Liberation Movement began to pay attention to women's equality of employment and economic independence. They argued that the fundamental reason why women had lost their independence for thousands of years lay in their financial attachment to men and the denial of property rights. Lu Xun once regarded economic independence as the premise of women's liberation, and Li Dazhao believed that women's employment was the basis of equality between men and women. Director Cai Chusheng and scriptwriter Sun Shiyi based the plot of New Women on the life and death of actress Ai Xia. While Wei Ming, played by Ruan Lingyu was a teacher, Ai Xia was an actress that committed suicide in 1934 at the age of 21 after starring in a movie that she wrote herself called "A Modern Woman". Ai Xia was condemned by the popular press when they found out about a single act of prostitution to raise money in order to afford medicine for her sick daughter. Cai Chusheng was thought to have been affiliated with Ai Xia in some way and made New Women for personal reasons. Ai Xia's suicide and legacy in the film industry in China made her become a symbol for the Chinese women's emancipation. Ai Xia was one of the new-style women emerging in early 20th century China. During these times, female suicide was not an uncommon occurrence with Confucian and patriarchal pressures for women to be mothers and wives while not expressing their true selves. Ai Xia represented this ideology of new women being a young intellectual woman that reflected the need